Jonny Wilkinson ‘can have six more years at top – like Ryan Giggs’
Last month Giggs appeared in Manchester United’s Champions League tie against Real Madrid – the original galacticos – eight months shy of his 40th birthday while Wilkinson, playing for rugby’s equivalents, Toulon, showed no signs of slowing down by booting Leicester out of the Heineken Cup last weekend.
The 33-year-old recently signed a one-year contract to remain with the Top 14 powerhouses, yet Black, who has worked with Wilkinson since he was a teenager at Newcastle, has no doubts that he can carry on way past that deal despite a chequered injury record earlier in his career.
“He is capable of playing at the top level for the next four or five years,” Black told The Rugby Paper. “All through the years I remember telling him he won’t get to his physical best until he is 32-34 because he has always looked after himself so well.
“He doesn’t drink, smoke or eat badly and because of the way he’s lived he’s in as good a nick as he’s ever been from a muscle standpoint.
“There’s no reason from a playing standpoint why he could not replicate what Giggs did. When you watch him playing for Manchester United, he still has loads of energy to burn at the end of the game. He is changing the pace and driving the game.
“Jonny has taken some massive hits in his position, which has resulted in a number of ‘car-crash’ injuries rather than soft tissue injuries, which have never really been a problem.
“The problem has been the number of ‘car crashes’ that he has been in, but he has recovered from them and they have not affected him in the long term.
“They key thing is that his hunger and passion for the game have not waned a bit. As long as that stays the same and he feels that he is making a contribution at the top level then I think he will keep playing.”
The 21 points scored against Leicester are further proof of Wilkinson’s ability to play at the top level, although after the match the 2003 World Cup winner tried to play down his potential involvement in this summer’s Lions tour.
Black, though, is happy to state the case for Wilkinson’s inclusion on his behalf. He said: “If you have got guy playing for a top-class team that have got a chance of winning the Heineken Cup and the Top 14, and is an incredibly important person in that team, then it would be silly not to look at him.
“He has so much experience, the only reason someone would not take him if there were was someone out there that was that much better.
“At this moment in time I still think give him the big game at the right occasion and he is still the best.
“I know there are some good lads out there who will have marvellous careers but right now Jonny is still in front of them.”
Before that there is the small matter of a Top 14 showdown with fellow giants Clermont Auvergne today followed by a Heineken Cup semi-final against Saracens.
And after making his debut in the latter competition 16 years ago against Edinburgh, Black revealed he still has unfinished business there.
“Certainly from Jonny’s point of view he wants to win everything,” Black added. “Without any shadow of a doubt at the end of Jonny’s career, when it comes, he has won the World Cup and virtually every piece of silverware there is apart from the European Cup.
“That would be a tremendous tick in that box for him and now you are coming to the business end of the season.
“More than that he is desperate for Toulon to win. He is the go-to person for everyone and the guy people entrust.
“When it comes to the crunch his teammates would not put the ball into anyone’s hands but his.”
DANIEL SCHOFIELD
